Athletic field marker



March 5, 1968 B. sHoPBELL l 3,371,647

ATHLETIC FIELD MARKER Filed July 12, 196e Irwin B. Shopbel BY ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent Gti 3,371,647 Patented Mar. 5, 1968 ice 3,371,647ATHLETIC FIELD MARKER Irwin B. Shopbell, 5409 Beverly Ave. NE., Canton,Ohio 44714 Filed July 12, 1966, Ser. No. 564,608 3 Claims. (Cl. 116-114)ABSTRACT OF THE ISCLOSURE -Tne invention relates to improvements inmarkers for athletic fields, and more particularly to goal line markersfor use instead of the conventional corner flags for football fields,although not necessarily restricted to this use.

In college, high school and professional football these corner flagshave been in general use for marking the four corners of all footballfields until the introduction of applicants invention a short time ago.

Each of these corner iiags vwas usually a red liag about eighteen inchessquare attached to a steel staff, the lower ends of which were anchoredin the ground at the inside corners of the four intersections of thegoal lines and side lines.

In addition to the danger to players who may accidentally fall upon orbe thrown upon one of the steel flag staffs, these corner liags havebeen the cause of Some weird problems for game oflicials in pastseasons. It has long been a rule that any player, or any ball whichtouches such a liag staff or flag is out-of-bounds behind the goal line.

`In windy weather, with one or more of the corner liags blowing into thefield of play, several circumstances may arise causing problems for thegame ofiicials and resulting in decisions which confuse the crowd.

As an example, a team may have put the ball in play from a point neartheir own goal line, and the ball carrier in sweeping around the end mayunknowingly run through the inwardly blown adjacent corner flag inturning up field, with the ball still in the end zone and a foot or morewithin the side line. According to the above interpretation of the rule,this play is ruled a safety.

In another situation, a defensive back may intercept a forward pass inthe field of play, and in recovering he may step back into the wave ofthe corner Hag, although he still remains in the field of play. By suchinterpretation this should be called a dead ball at that spot.

In another situation, a pass receiver catching the ball in the air mayunfortunately land with one foot in the wave of the flag, although wellwithin the playing field, continuing on into the end zone to score. Bythe above interpretation of the rule, this play should be ruled aS anincomplete pass, no score.

Again, in a somewhat similar situation, a pass receiver being unawarethat he has run through a waving corner liag, may continue on into theend zone to receive the pass. Under the above-mentioned rule, thereceiver became ineligible when he ran through the waving corner liag,although he remained in the field of play. As a result there would be nocompleted pass and no score.

Another example is where what looks like a perfect coffin corner kick,going out-of-bounds on the one foot line, unfortunately bounds throughthe waving corner fiag while still in the field of play. Under the aboveinterpretation this would be ruled a touchback.

Therefore, since the corner iiags were not only a hazard to the players,but because the flags being blown into the playing field can cause suchproblems as above noted, applicant has produced the athletic fieldmarker embodying the present invention.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a marker for the cornersof football fields and the like, which will be absolutely harmless toplayers coming into contact therewith, and which will avoid the manyproblems presented by the conventional corner flags.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a marker in the formof a flexible, resilient post, formed of soft, pliable rubber-likematerial which will bend or crush when fallen upon or stepped on, andwill return to its original upright position and shape when released.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a marker in whichthe lower end of the flexible, resilient post is bonded to a rubber basehaving an integral, downwardly disposed projection or plug adapted to beinserted into a receptacle or the like placed in the ground to hold thepost in upright position.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a markercomprising a post formed of polyethylene foam having a vinyl coveringbonded thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a marker in which theplug depending from the soft rubber base is provided with an annularbead adapted to fit Within an annular groove within the receptacle.

The above objects together with others, which will be apparent from thedrawing and following description, or which may be later referred to,may be attained by constructing the improved athletic field marker inthe manner hereinafter described in detail and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which FIG. l is an elevation of the markerembodying the invention, with parts broken away for the purpose ofillustration; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one corner of a footballfield showing one of the markers at the intersection of the goal lineand adjacent side line; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one of the markers in flexed positionshowing the manner in which the soft pliable rubber-like posts are bentwhen fallen upon or stepped on.

Referring now more particularly to the construction illustrated in thedrawing, the athletic field marker embodying the invention comprises asoft, pliable, rubberlike post indicated generally at 1. This post maybe of square cross section as indicated and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,may be ofthe same width as the width of the goal lines 9 and side lines10, and of uniform width throughout its height. The post 1 may be formedof a foamrubber-like material, preferably polyethylene foam as indicatedat 2 in FIG. 1. The outer surface of this foam-rubber-like material isprotected by a covering 3 of vinyl bonded thereto as shown in FIG. 1.

The vinyl covering is placed over all of the sides and top end of thepost. A soft rubber base 4 is bonded to the lower end of the post 1 andprovided with a centrally located depending projection or plug 5 whichmay be of tubular construction, as shown in FIG. l.

An annular rib 6 is formed upon the projection or plug S to be receivedin the annular groove 7 formed in the interior of the tubular metalsocket or receptacle 8 which is driven into the ground at theintersection of the goal line 9 and the adjacent side line 10.

The receptacle 8 may be formed of metal, preferably aluminum or thelike, and has the tapered lower portion 11 with drain apertures 12 atits lower end. The receptacle is shown as terminating in the drivingpoint 13 which may have wings 14 thereon to assist in anchoring thereceptacle in the ground. As shown in FIG 1, the upper end of 3 thereceptacle 8 is open to receive the depending projection or plug uponthe rubber base 4 of the marker.

With an athletic field marker as illustrated and decribed there will beno danger of injury to players who may fall upon or be thrown upon oneof the markers, as the flexible, pliable rubber-like post will bend orex as shown in FIG. 3, when fallen upon or stepped on, and will returnto its original position and shape, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, whenreleased.

It will also be evident that the many problems presented by the oldcorner ags will be entirely avoided by the use of the pliable, resilientpost embodying the invention. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a ballcarrier may pass close to one of the improved markers without danger ofbeing ruled out of bounds, so long as he stays within the playing field,as there is no waving Hag extending into the playing field for a playerto come in contact with, and there is no possible chance of the runnertouching the post unless he actually goes out-ofbounds.

In the same way, there is no possible chance of a defensive backintercepting a forward pass in the field of play being calledout-of-bounds unless he actually steps out-ofbounds.

It will be seen that with the improved corner posts located at theintersection of the side line and the goal line, a pass receiver hasplenty of room to score without any possible chance of touching thecorner post unless he actually steps out-of-bounds.

In the same way, a ball may pass very close to the post withoutcontacting the same, making it possible for a perfect coffin kick to goout-ofbounds on the one foot line or even closer to the goal linewithout touching the corner post.

The improved athletic field marker was used during the 1965 footballseason by the Big Ten Conference teams and was also used by the NotreDame team. On I an. 17, 1966 applicants corner post marker was adoptedby the NCAA Rules Committee.

In the foregoing description certain terms have been used for brevity,clearness and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to beimplied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because suchwords are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to bebroadly construed.

Moreover, the embodiments of the improved construction illustrated anddescribed herein are by way of example, and the scope of the presentinvention is not limited to the exact details of construction.

Having now described the invention or discovery, the construction, theoperation, and use of preferred embodiments thereof, and theadvantageous new and useful results obtained thereby; the new and usefulconstruction, and reasonable mechanical equivalents thereof obvious tothose skilled in the art, are set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A football field corner marker for use at the intersection of eachgoal line and side line on a football field, said corner markercomprising a pliable, flexible post formed of foam-rubberlike material,having a vinyl-like coating, said post being of the same width as thewidth of said goal lines and side lines and being of uniform widththroughout its height, a rubber base plate of the same cross-sectionalsize and shape as the post bonded to the lower end of said post, adepending rubber plug integral with said rubber base, and a socketmember for insertion into the ground, said socket member having an openupper end to receive said depending plug.

2. An athletic field marker as defined in claim 1, in which thefoam-rubber-like material is polyethylene foam.

3. An athletic field marker as dened in claim 2, in which the socketmember has an annular groove therein and the plug has an annular beadadapted to be received in said groove, and in which the lower portion ofthe socket member is downwardly tapered and drain-opening means isprovided in the lower portion of the socket therein, and in which wingsare provided upon the tapered lower end of said socket member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 930,236 8/1909 Schacht.

1,164,909 12/1915 Anberlin.

1,631,566 6/1927 Walton 116-173 1,726,817 9/1929 Franklin 40-1452,095,609 10/1937 Long 40-145 2,121,961 6/1938 Gill 94-1.5 2,313,1153/1943 Allen etal 248-156 3,091,997 6/1963 Byrd 116-63 3,099,244 7/1963Knapp 116-63 LOUIS I. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner.

